An Interview With The Deceived Creators Lisa McGee and Toby Beer
TV fans will need no introduction to Lisa McGee; as the creator of Derry Girls, she’s earned a place in the heart of Irish viewers forever! But anybody expecting something along those lines from her new show The Deceived – well, be warned...
“Haha, people are gonna get a surprise,” she laughs. “It’s a bit of a departure! It’s a very dark psychological thriller, with lots of twists and turns. I hope people enjoy it just as much!”
The early reviews for the show suggest the viewing public will enjoy it just fine! Beginning Monday at 9pm with a special double-bill – with every episode available On Demand exclusively for Virgin Media customers – it’s an addictive drama that promises to get pulses racing.
It stars a raft of Irish talent including Emmett J Scanlan, Catherine Walker, Eleanor Methven, and him-off-Normal-People Paul Mescal. And as for the story? Well, for Lisa and her co-creator – and husband! – Toby Beer, the inspiration was literally right at home.
“We wanted to write something that we wanted to watch ourselves,” Lisa explains. “We’d ran out of Hitchcock films! So we wanted to write a modern take on that kind of thriller genre, and that’s what we’ve hopefully done.”
Marriage can be tricky enough at the best of times; how did they find writing as a duo?
“We’ve got quite a solid system now,” Toby reports. “We’ll talk about things initially, but then once we start working we tend to do it separately, before coming together and comparing notes.” He grins: “It’s so we don’t have to spend too much time together!”
Just in case things get weird when they discover just how dark their other half’s imagination really is?
“It can be a bit shocking...but I think Lisa has a high bar in terms of discovering things that are happening in my head that are weird.”
“I think it’s more about discovering how weird we both are,” Lisa chuckles.
Hot on the heels of shows like Blood and Darklands, it’s another reminder that Irish dramas are right up there with the best of them – something that Lisa is delighted to see. “I think we’re making leaps at the minute. There’s always been great Irish storytellers in the theatre and film, and now I think TV’s the next place that we’re really going to shine – and I hope it’s going to happen quite quicklyI There’s more trust in TV writers now, and their big ideas; it’s an exciting time.”
If a pulsating psychological thriller sounds like your idea of an ideal night in, then it’s a very exciting time indeed – and there’s just days to wait! The Deceived begins Monday at 9pm on Virgin Media One, Virgin TV 103.
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